Removal of Saddam Was a Mistake: Blair

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted that removing ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power has contributed to the terrorist uprising in Iraq. Writing in Financial Times, Blair said: “Of course the Iraq of 2014 bears, in part, the imprint of the removal of Saddam Hussein 11 years ago. To say otherwise, as a recent editorial in this newspaper implies that I do, would be absurd,” Mr Blair wrote.

But he said that if there had not been the 2003 invasion which toppled Saddam, Iraqi people would have staged an Arab Spring uprising against Saddam. He added that Saddam Hussein’s response would have been more like that of Bashar al-Assad in Syria than that of Hosni Mubarak,” with the former clinging on to power in a recent election despite widespread civil war in Syria.

“Whatever decision had been taken in 2003, in 2014 we would be facing a major challenge,” Blair claimed.“That is the point I am making. I am not seeking to persuade people about the decision in 2003. I am trying to convince them that the fundamental challenge is not the product of that decision or indeed the decision in Syria. It is a challenge of immense complexity that has not originated in anything we have done since this challenge burst fully on to our consciousness after the attacks of September 11 2001,” he said.

Full text of Blair’s essay. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/tony-blair-iraq-essay-full-text-we-have-to-liberate-ourselves-from-the-notion-that-we-caused-this-crisis-we-havent-9537514.html

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